Chapter 16

“What about the others, the APC’s. What happened with them?” I was remembering everything now, and it was alarming me.

“Bill will want to tell you all about it.” Marla whispered in my ear. I like that, I mean I liked hearing the Bill was back and would be bringing me up to date. I also liked Marla whispering in my ear. It felt good, and I wanted her to do some more, but I didn’t say anything. I was a little confused as to why I was being bandaged, not only my head, but there was things on my chest too.

“Anna, What’s wrong with me?” my voice betrayed my uncertainty.

“Well, if I ever heard a straight line, that’s it.” She chuckled. “Your okay Robert. Just some bruised facial tissue. A few impacted cuts on your chest and arms. I would say the explosion gave you a concussion and knocked you ass over tea kettle. We cleaned a lot of material out of your eyes. In a way, it was good that you bled so much. If your eyes had been dry, you might have been scarred. The blood helped wash out the abrasive matter. Your hearing has returned, so I think that was part of your concussion. There’s been cases where head injuries left the victims unable to discern speech, yet they had no problem hearing. I think you had a little of that. Your feet, will be okay, I just have to keep you off them until they heal.” My feet, the look on my face, told her I didn’t understand. “You arrived without shoes. Your feet are cut, and I might say, pretty bad too. You know the first time when we walked in here that day so long ago, I saw the debris and other things along the side of the walls. That’s why I stayed in the middle of the tunnel. You would have done well doing likewise.”

“I couldn’t see, needed to touch something so I could go straight. Didn’t want to be bumping into walls all the way.”

“Well, you made it. When it’s all said and done, that’s what counts.” She smiled at me. “I’m glad you did.”

It was disappointing to be stuck in a bed with bandaged feet. Being confined removes a person from the world. I wanted to see Bill and find out what took place while I almost blew myself up in the tunnel. Instead of being able to take care of that desire, I had to wait for Bill to find the time to come see me. That wasn’t good at all. Several times I tried getting out of bed, only to be pushed back in and reminded that I had some sever cuts on my feet. I experimented by pushing the bottom of my foot against the bed rail and learned that doing so caused a lot of pain. I didn’t give Anna any lip the next time she changed the bandages. I knew she was right and if I wanted to walk out of her little hospital, I better follow her advice.

Finally Bill showed up, apologizing for being delayed. There was still some sniping going on with those doing some repair work on the Silo. The antennas and cameras were still considered to be important to our survival. Other than that, we were not experiencing any other threats at the moment. The sniping would have to be taken care of soon, but as yet, the shots had missed. They had the range but were wide of the target.

My questions about the fight, brought out a huge smile. Bill said that when they went out with the two Armored vehicles, the All Wheeled drive was faster and took a huge lead on our tracked APC. The result was, when number one, came into contact with the enemy, they flanked it and were swarming up on it’s side. The second vehicle was just coming up and the enemy wasn’t expecting it. With the fifty Cal, they swept off everyone climbing on the rig.

They had set up a road block that they retreated to, and turned it into an ambush. That was when our second armored rig came up, laying down fire on the trap. Greg had installed the claymores on the sides of the vehicles and when they were surrounded, they simply detonated several. It left the battle site a scene of carnage and slaughter. Having thwarted that attack, they returned at high speed when they heard that the enemy was gathering at the Bank Lift. Fortunately the explosives had done the job and the tunnel was collapsed.

Since then they had set claymores out around our equipment compound, and placed several cameras monitoring the walls and fencing. Barbed wire was strung, making any approach difficult except by way of the main entrance. It wasn’t fool proof but it would delay an attack long enough for us to respond. The fact that the perimeter was mined, probably had a lot to do with the end of attacks there.

The lull that followed was good, but we knew as long as Fort Sally existed, our survival would always be in peril. We faced the fact that we had to fix that situation, some day. There was no chance of achieving a peaceful end with Wallace Brockman and his group still alive and roaming the country side.

Judging from the tapes of the Bank Lift, there had been more than twenty working on the charge which blew open the sealed lift. If they had all entered the tunnel, then they were no longer with us. The body count from the other fight, was estimated to be around fifteen. As large as the number was, we knew it was small compared to the number Fort Sally had on hand. Our hope was that his men wouldn’t be willing to take the risk of attacking us again.

“nna heard me wonder aloud to Bill, what it was that inspired those people to risk their lives attacking us, when seeing their companions cut down. What was it that pushed them into harm’s way. AThey could be high on drugs.” “nna simply stated, like she was surprised the logic escaped me. AIt’s a little known fact that the Germans used drugs in World War Two, and some of the Chinese troops during the Korean war were thought to have been high.” She smiled up at me, while re-bandaging my feet. “Somali war lords kept their forces supplied with a drug that enabled them to fearlessly rush blazing machine guns.”

“So you think these guys are all high on something?” Bill asked before I could.

“I haven’t done a blood test on any of them, but from what I’ve heard from our new members, something was dispensed to the soldiers. Especially when they were going on a raid. That would explain all the missing drugs from the pharmacies. Someone with a little knowledge would know what would work. It just stands to reason.”

“I always thought drugs would affect you in such a way, that would undermine performance.” he was shaking his head, thinking Anna might be wrong.

“Probably does, that’s why you have always kicked their ass’s.” She nodded in agreement. “But it gets them out there.”

We had been lucky, what losses we incurred were slight in comparison. We didn’t have the numbers to carry on a war, or could we spare any of our members that would surely be lost. Whatever solution we came up with had to be one sided and inflect an over whelming loss on Fort Sally. Coming up with a plan that would do that, was going to be difficult.

During the days it took for my feet to heal, I was shuttled back and forth vie wheel chair. It was nice getting to move throughout the Bunker. I attended the movies in our theater and watched some of the girls perform karaoke on stage. It was during one such performance that we had our first birth. Vicki Albaugh, a cute blond that was one of the first girls to slip away and visit Jim Christian and Martin Block in their secret hideaway. Now she was paying for it. I was removed from the wheel chair as Vicki discovered she could hardly walk due to her sudden onset of labor pains.

I was placed in a very comfortable seat as the majority of theater patrons left, pushing Vicki in my wheel chair and leading a parade towards the infirmary. Mandy who had been the evenings host, looked around and saw there was very few left in the audience and no one coming next to perform. Shrugging her shoulders, she announced that the movie would start shortly. So that’s where I was when Donna found me. I hadn’t had three words with her since the shootings in front of the town theater.

“I haven’t thanked you for all you did for me.” She spoke with a soft tone, very much like how she started out the last time we talked. Only then she turned it into a personal slam. “I want to apologize for the way I’ve acted. I can see that you were doing what you thought best for us all.”

“Donna, is this going to be another slap in the face.” I said it with a wiry smile.

“Oh, no ... I’m sorry about that too.” Donna shook her head, assuring me she was being genuine. “I had no business telling you that. I’m not trying to start anything, but I want you to know that I am sorry for acting like I did. I know it was wrong of me to do so.”

Well, that was nice and I appreciated it. It hadn’t been on my mind, but it was good to have that memory paved over with an apology. She didn’t say much after that, we chatted about Tyler Page and her recovery. Anna was doing what she could to speed her healing, but it looked like the damage done was greater than the skills and tools we had at hand. Donna made a remark that stuck with me even after she left. She said something like, I should try and find us a doctor. It was an idea, I just didn’t have the slightest of how to go about doing that. Anna was doing her best, but even she wanted someone with greater skills then she, to show up.

All our hospitals were located in areas where most of the gang warfare had taken place. If it hadn’t been hit with a bomb, The looters sure did a number on everything. Information we got from our new members told of a vast amount of killing. The hospitals became a prized possession and as such, suffered much of the violence they were trying to treat. Finding a doctor, would be difficult since any group having one was a prize no one would be willing to part with.

While I was pondering the question on where to find a doctor, Nora slipped into a seat beside me. I was greeted with a smile and she slipped an arm around mine. “Anna has been keeping you away from us.” I didn’t know what to reply with so I just sat there with a dumb look on my face. “Said you needed rest and had to get your strength back. Have you got your strength back?” she cooed to me.

Okay, I woke up and told her I thought I had a lot of strength back. She cuddled up against me, this time she was wearing much less then when we were trying to stay warm in a pile of cardboard. Whispering in my ear, she told me she was on the pill so I shouldn’t be afraid of making a baby. I was next door to heaven, as she went on to tell me how much she cared for me and wanted to deepen our relationship. It was wonderful. I don’t know how I’d been living without it.

What movie was playing, I can’t remember. I was too wrapped up with Nora and enjoying the feel of her body against mine. Her whispering in my ear that I could do anything I wanted, had done it’s work. All I could think of was how I was going to get her back to my room. Hell I was through with the infirmary, I was going to spend my night in a large bed with this hot woman.

Nora could sense my problem, I was trying to figure out how to get to a room, without walking on my bandaged feet. I had tried them a little by pushing my foot against the seat in front of me, and was rewarded again with a sharp pain. My feet were far from healed. Anna had said that they were severely cut and would take time to heal.

With a warm smile, Nora nodded towards the isle, where Marla was bringing back my wheel chair. “Looks like our taxi has arrived.” Looking back and forth between them, I could see by the conspiratorial smiles that this was planned. Maybe not the part of getting the wheel chair, but they both had me in mind for this evening.

I was wheeled back to my room. Anna watched as my escorts pushed me past the infirmary. She just smiled and went back to her charges inside. My room was neat, neater than when I last saw it. My weapons were stacked in the corner, where I generally stored them. I could see the place had been put back in order. Violets bathrobe was not hanging on it’s peg, nor were her slippers at the foot of the bed. I knew that the room was again just mine.

Marla parked the chair beside my bed and I was able to crawl out of the chair, directly into my bed. I had enough strength for that and more. As Marla helped me out of my robe and pajamas, Nora stood by the bed and dropped her clothing straight down and off her body. She was beautiful, and I was excited. As Nora climbed into the bed, I was aware that Marla was there too, but I wasn’t giving anything much thought, other than I was about to enjoy the best moments of my life. The two women that I had become attached to were both naked and moved onto my bed, pressing their bodies against mine.

When I awoke the next morning, my wheel chair was still beside my bed, but my two partners were gone. I was a little disappointed, having wanted to continue doing more with both of them. I was hungry and needed a shower. Coffee was also on the list. So I found my pajamas folded on the night stand and struggled them on. Having sore feet, sure made doing things tender, especially when shoving my legs into the pajama bottoms. I managed to get into the wheel chair without putting any weight on my feet. Then headed down to the cafeteria for some coffee. I never made it. I met both my women coming back and they wheeled me into the shower room. It was the mens side, and I was again stripped of my pajamas and the girls placed me on a wheeled table. Next, off came their clothes and together they took me under the shower. I never had a shower laying down before, but it was an experience worth having. First Marla joined me on the table and helped me soap down. I did the same to her, and enjoyed washing her places where wonderful things took place. A couple of men came to use the shower, but discreetly left when they saw what was going on.

The girls had me dried and dressed, then took me down to the infirmary and had my bandages changed. The news there was that Vicki was just delivering her baby. Our first born was a Girl, which Vicki named Eve. No one asked what the surname should be, It was a subject we considered not worth talking about. Since both men were dead, it was good to leave it that way. Hell, maybe even Vicki didn’t know who the father was.

The next several weeks, three more births occurred. We had three new sons, and it looked like it was only going to be the start. Violet took charge of documenting the births and their vital statistics. It was a needed thing, but I just wasn’t going to worry about what father went with what kid. From what I’d learned was that women did what they damn well pleased and it didn’t matter what The rules were.

My feet eventually healed up, and I rejoined my comrades in tilling the fields. During my convalescents, Greg and Bill led an expedition out and took over several abandon farms. They were close to town and we could even walk to them if need be. Safety was of more concern then saving fuel. From what we knew of the supplies in our area, we didn’t have to worry about that for several years, based on our current consumption. We had faith that there was more fuel storage around then what we knew. One thing we were sure of was that most fuel storage wasn’t in large metropolitan areas, but rather out in rural places where an accident wouldn’t wipe out a whole town. So every day, one of the armor personal carriers would bus twenty or more people out to work the fields.

We had some orchards that produced, but many more that didn’t. The thought was, when the trees were blooming, the weather was still mid winter and pollination did not occur. Next year, if things went right, we should have more trees producing fruit. Some of our more out door types were reading up on how to pollinate the trees artificially. We still had more to do than people to do it. Half our teen girls were tending their babies or getting ready to have them. As a group everyone agreed that the young mothers should be with their babies and only do work that didn’t interfere with them.

The fields had been plowed with the farm machinery Greg readied from our Equipment shelters. Having gotten the machines we needed working, he turned his attention to the farm equipment left on the farms. Not all Barns were intact, wind damage, and fire from some unknown source had destroyed many. However we did find several that we could use. The land to the north had suffered more damage from the bombs then our local area. We thought that the further south we looked we would find more intact farms. We were wrong, the nearer we came to Eugene, the damage was worse. It was surmised that an air burst had wiped out that city and it’s surroundings.

The newer men were setting up irrigation systems, and readying everything for the coming dry season. So far our people working in the fields never came under sniper fire. We were constantly doing everything we could to keep the fields secure, but we knew that we couldn’t keep every sniper away. We were still getting sniped at the silo. Whenever they went up to repair damage done by the long range shooting, the shots would come in. Before attempting repairs a curtain would be raised. Since Greg said that they needed to do most of the work during daylight hours, we rigged the curtain late one night, and now only needed to pull on a rope to raise it.

After raising the curtain, they would wait an amount of time before repairing lines and replacing parts. Then they would leave the curtain up for a time afterward. The reason for waiting and then leaving the curtain up afterwards was because the snipers kept firing ever so often, hoping to luck out with a blind shot and hit one of us. Dean Taylor the sixteen year old that Nora and I found hiding with Fred in that cold basement, was knowledgeable with electronics. He was the one most often working on the Silo. Several times he had a bullet pass close to him. Once a component was shot out of his hand, and this was all done with the curtain up and in place. Something needed to be done about that.